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IED Istituto Europeo di Design headed back to Sibiu, Romania, to partner with Feeric Fashion Week, one of the country’s most important fashion events. Running from July 15 to 20, the event brought together various designers and brands, along with graduate collections from students at schools and universities in Romania and across Europe. As one of the official partners, IED offered a Summer Course scholarship at IED Barcelona in July 2026 to one of the participating designers.

Polish student Michał Duraj won the contest with his design proposal “Escapism.” A romantic collection presenting draped seams, patinated textures and moth-eaten silks suggesting decay not as ruin, but as transformation. “The collection embraces the emotional harshness of summer, where beauty wilts, intensifies and lingers. It celebrates loneliness not as emptiness, but as a space of creation, where fantasy blooms from constraint. Laced with nostalgia and charged with the drama of introspection, Escapism unfolds like a fever dream: theatrical, romantic and defiantly vulnerable,” explains Duraj, current student at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

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“His proposal has a unique sensitivity, lightness and romanticism,” says Giovanni Ottonello, IED Art Director and jury president of the contest. “There is no idea of going into the future, but rather of embracing the past and enhancing the present. He deserved the opportunity to dive into the world of Sustainable Fashion at IED Barcelona, and explore its future steps in the industry after his studies in interior and scenography design in Poland.”

The second award, a mentorship with the IED Art Director, was given to Andrada Bianca Negru, from West University of Timisoara, for her collection “Far from the Others.” “She has a very clear [idea of] what she wants to say in fashion, and she showed it by presenting a very coherent collection, in terms of concept, sustainability and execution. We believed a mentorship program would guide her to develop her professional career in fashion,” stated Ottonello.

“Obedience in Fragments” by Blanka Gotić was the collection awarded with the mentorship with the President of Feeric Fashion Week, Mitichi Preda. Gotić is currently studying at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, in the Faculty of Textile Technology. “The collection transformed such a delicate theme as Mormon identity into a collection with unexpected materials. With this mentorship, it will be the perfect opportunity to express this creativity and channel it towards professional growth,” explained IED’s Art Director.

The contest was open to all students and recent graduates, aiming to provide young designers with valuable skills before they enter the fashion industry, with a deep knowledge of sustainability in fashion, one of the most important topics to face the future of the industry.

Last year, IED presented a graduation fashion show titled “Multitude,” a reflection of the multiple identities expressed by IED 2024 graduates in their final collections. As a result, Italian photographer Nicola Casini teamed up with Giovanni Ottonello to style a fashion editorial at Boromir Sibiu — an editorial that captures the magic and creative freedom of young designers embarking on an exciting journey, following their instincts, vision and creativity.

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Leire Movilla, from IED Kunsthal Bilbao, presented “New from Nowhere,” a collection inspired by fantastic and alien realities, dealing with the complexity of human life, through aspects such as freedom, isolation and voluntary or involuntary ignorance; IED Torino’s graduate Sandro Russo explored roles of power and desire through fashion with his proposal “Sade”; “Aminas” is a collection combining Sardinian tradition with textile innovation by Maria Antonietta Zoroddu from IED Cagliari.

Shooting Credits

Photographer:
Nicola Casini @nicolacasini
Stylist:
Giovanni Ottonello @driftgio
Designers:
Sandro Russo @sandrinob.fresco (IED Torino),
Leire Movilla @leii_111 (IED Kunsthal – Bilbao),
Maria Antonietta Zoroddu @mariaantonietta_zoroddu (IED Cagliari)
Models:
Odett Lisnic @odettlisnic / Attitude Models @attitudemodels ;
Erica Iancu @iancu_erica_ / Unique Models Agency @unique_models_agency ;
Letitia Ciobanu @letitiaciobanu_ / Bold Models School @boldmodelsro
Key Makeup Artist:
Cristian Buca @cristianbuca
Makeup Team:
Antonia Lestyan @antonia_lestyan & Ionut Alexandru @jonnymua
Hair:
Alexandra Boitor @alexandra_boitor & Alin Crisan @alincrisaan
Location:
Boromir Sibiu @boromir_imparte_bucurii
Production:
Feeric Fashion Week @feericfashionweek;
Mitichi Preda @mitichipreda;
Landiana Cerciu @landianacerciu

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